ZiefBrief

Neat Research Tools -- Capitol Words and LOUIS

Just so we are clear on this, ZiefBrief is the alter ego for a crew of dedicated law librarians here at the Dorraine Zief Law Library. After surfing the web for a while, some of the members of the team feel like a spider on Benzedrine. We find cool stuff, which leads to more cool stuff, that links to more… you  get the picture – there_is_SO_MUCH_STUFF!! So we find a little item, you might call it “web candy.” But on closer examination it is so much more.

Take for example a recent discovery, Capitol Words. To quote the web site: “Capitol Words gives you an at-a-glance view into the daily proceedings of the United States Congress through the simplest lens available-a single word. For every day that Congress is in session, Capitol Words displays the most frequently used word in the Congressional Record.” Here is the latest example:

Fun, not earth shattering and you can add the site to your RSS aggregator and get a daily heads-up on what they are saying in the halls of congress.

"But Wait! (as they say on all the infomercials) There's More!!" Capitol Words is just one project of a group called the Sunshine Foundation (named after the Brandeis quote that "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.") Another interest project they are working on is LOUIS (click here to visit), an acronym for the Library Of Unified Information Sources. Through LOUIS their "ultimate goal is to create a comprehensive, completely indexed and cross-referenced depository of federal documents from the executive and legislative branches of government.... LOUIS currently contains, in fully searchable format, seven sets of federal documents:

• Congressional Reports
• Congressional Record
• Congressional Hearings
• Federal Register
• Presidential Documents
• GAO Reports
• Congressional Bills & Resolutions"

So check out Capitol Words and the other works of the Sunshine Foundation today. Its worth the trip.

The Law -- It Just Wants To Be Free

Public.Resource.Org issued a press release today announcing that they will "release a large and free archive of federal case law, including all Courts of Appeals decisions from 1950 to the present and all Supreme Court decisions since 1754. The archive will be public domain and usable by anyone for any purpose." They are able to do this thanks to an agreement they reached with Fastcase, Inc.
Carl Malamud, the founder of Public.Resource.Org is famous for his efforts making the SEC's EDGAR materials available to the general public for free. There is a great story about Malamud and his effort to convince West Publishing Company to allow his organization to digitize West materials at Tim O'Reilly's (of O'Reily computer books) blog.

ZiefBrief Breaks In To Print

We here at ZiefBrief never pass up a chance to toot our own horn and when the Recorder called about including us in a feature article about blogs in the legal workplace we jumped at the chance. Well, the article, A Blog of Their Own, is out and available at the CAL LAW web site. The article discusses ZB's humble origin as an alternative to a widely ignored print newsletter that the library produced. It also brings up the ZiefBrief's moment in the sun when a 10 minute call to the Archivist at the Yale University Library helped settle the burning question  of whether Anna Nicole Smith's first husband taught wills and trust while a professor at Yale Law School. Thanks to article author Pam  Smith for getting the word out about our efforts.

Seventh Circuit Wiki

The Seventh Circuit has created a wiki!  According to beSpacific, the wiki project was led by Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook.  There isn't a ton of information on the wiki yet, but you can find the entire Seventh Circuit Practitioner's Handbook on the site.  Lawyers are welcome to contribute comments by following the registration process listed here.

Law Wikis

Robert Ambrogi has an excellent piece on Law.com this week, "Legal Wikis Are Bound to Wow You," which describes how wikis are being used to promote legal scholarship and "lawyer-to-lawyer collaboration."  Ambrogi also supplies a large list of legal wikis, including the Death Penalty Wiki and the Internet Law Treatise sponsored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.  What's a wiki?  It's a website that allows individuals to edit the content of the site collectively.  Wikis can be open to edits from the entire world, or they can be password-protected so that only particular individuals can contribute content.  What are the origins of the word "wiki"?  It's allegedly derived from the Hawaiian word "wiki," which means "quick."

Law Librarian Amy Wright Caught in the Spotlight

ZiefBrief is pleased as can be to note that Online Research Services Librarian Amy Wright, the newest member of Team Zief, has been singled out for special attention in a Spotlight on Law Librarians by the Law Librarian Blog. The Law Librarian Blog is a member of the Law Professor Blog which bills itself as "...a network of web logs ("blogs") designed from the ground-up to assist law professors in their scholarship and teaching."

Amy's Spotlight gives an interesting glimpse into how she came to the profession of law librarianship and what it means to her to be a law librarian. Every year a few curious law students, daunted by the enormity of practicing law, will ask about the route that leads from law school to the law library -- it will be useful to be able to refer them to Amy's story. Check out the full Spotlight here.

Electronic Discovery Resources

The electronic discovery-related amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2006 -- just a few weeks away!  Luckily, Tom Mighell and Dennis Kennedy have compiled an extensive list of Internet resources relating to the new rules on this month's Law Practice Today. 

ABA's 2006 Legal Technology Survey

Law.com reported some of the highlights of the ABA's 2006 Legal Technology survey today. For those of you about to begin practice in the next year, it's worth taking a look at some of the technology trends described in the article.  First, a majority of surveyed attorneys are now using PDAs to stay in touch with clients and colleagues when they're away from the office.  Fifty-five percent of the surveyed lawyers are currently using a PDA, Blackberry, or smart phone when they're not at work.  In the 2004-05 survey, just 45 percent of respondents reported using these devices. When asked where they were using PDAs, 80 percent responded that they use them at home, 64 percent use them while traveling, 60 percent use them in hotels, and 58 percent use them in client offices. In fact, one respondent was so enamored with his PDA that he took the time to compose this ode to the device:  "In the elevator, in the hall, with a friend or in the stall, in the park or in the dark, I can use it here or there, I can use it anywhere."

Although continuing legal education programs about using technology in the courtroom seem to be everywhere these days, the survey responses seem to demonstrate that attorneys aren't so enthusiastic about using technology in the courtroom.  Sixty-four percent of the respondents reported that they did not use laptops in the courtroom.

The ABA isn't distributing free online copies of the survey, but ABA members can download free executive summaries of the lengthy survey at the ABA Legal Technology web page.